Vencl hangs on for overall tour victory

Adrien Loron has topped the podium at Crankworx a number of times in recent years, but could never seem to break through in the Dual Speed and Style.

After a number of runner-up finishes, the French rider toppled close friend Tomas Slavik to earn the victory on Saturday night to bolster his King of Crankworx odds.

"I wasn't that confident at the beginning today because there were so many good riders, big tricks and people going fast. But I've been improving my runs a bit, finally made some combos, which is pretty hard for me, so I'm pretty stoked," he said.

Loron also added 150 points to his King of Crankworx, boosting his advantage to an even 200 points over downhiller Jack Moir of Australia and 225 over Saturday's fourth-place finisher Mitch Ropelato of the United States.

Loron's challenger in the final, the defending King of Crankworx in Slavik, took an unusual road to get as far as he did, eschewing difficult tricks - and the time credits that come with them - to advance as far as he did on pure speed.

While he acknowledged he was a little surprised to get as far as he did with time only, Slavik stressed that it was a heck of a lot of speed.

"I'm a racer and I race with the speed," he said. "I was really pushing it. I was sliding in every single turn. I was getting out of control and I was giving my best to it."

Loron entered the race as the only competitor of the 16 who could catch Czech rider Jakub Vencl for the overall title, but needed a Vencl flub in addition to the win. Vencl made his mistake, missing a gate, but since it came in the elite eight, he still banked enough points to hold off Loron's challenge and take the tour championship and $5,000.

"I never thought it would end up like this and I'm over the moon," he said.